DIVA [ˈdiːva] (noun): An operatic prima donna. A female version of a hustler. A usually glamorous and successful female performer or personality. A woman who has self-confidence, self-respect, and hella swagger. She knows who she is and exactly where she is going.
True divas should be treated with respect for their enormous talent and strong will.

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Sunday, November 06, 2011

Remembering Mark

Every year when November 6th rolls around, I pause to remember my cousin, Mark. I was 16 on this day fifteen years ago in 1996 on the day that Mark lost his brief, albeit fierce, battle with cancer. Mark had just turned 15. This October, he would have celebrated his 30th birthday. It's hard to fathom how much time has passed and how different things might have been.

Mark's death had a profound effect on my life. I was in my formative teenage years, and just beginning to understand what it meant to follow Christ. I could not reason why God would allow Mark to have been taken unless He had some really important job for Him up in Heaven.

Even now as I am walking with God more deliberately, I still don't fully understand why bad things happen to good people, and I can't wait to get to Heaven, to either ask God as soon as I get there, or else have reached such a state of enlightenment that I won't need to ask.

But every year, on this day, I will remember Mark, and his motto of "No Fear," his smile and his courage through it all, and it strengthens my faith because I refuse to believe that this is all for naught and that there isn't a loving God behind it all.